Late Summer Mix-Down

It's been a while since I've written a post detailing what I've been listening to lately, so here we go. Apart from the monthly chart, which could be a lot more precise, I listen to tons of stuff. Mainly mixes from all and sundry. It's been difficult recently to keep a focus musically so I'll just concentrate on the electronic dm end of things and we'll see where that takes us.

This year has been one of the best yet for Essential Mixes. Pete Tong's rather irritatingly stilted middle-aged bordering on teenage quack still pervades but as his show still proudly trumpets, it's still one of the best, whichever way you care to look. The previous post of convoluted quackery mentioned the very prescient fact that more than for a very long time, sounds are becoming homogenised and the underground is rapidly being consumed by the dark forces of acceptability. Having said that you can't argue too much with a lot of what's passed through Tong's scaly, lizard-like hands recently. The Jamie XX mix from last weekend being a good example. In spite of Mr XX's constant flavour-of-the-month leanings, it's actually a very listenable mix. Get it here. The Jamie Jones half of the Ibiza mix a couple of weeks earlier is also very nice. You can find that here. Stacey Pullen, one of my favourite all-time DJs (I'll never forget one sweaty e'd up night at The Rex in paris) contributed his second installment. Download that here. Download his first, from February 1996 here.

The FACT mixes are always worth a few minutes of your time, if not to judge them by their covers and slag them off before even listening. I've got a few lined up from this month but haven't got around to any of them yet, and if I'm really honest I can't remember the last one I really liked, so there. Get The Curse has a few interesting podcasts to discover, the last two, by Danny Daze and Burnski should be good (as you can tell I haven't got around to them either). Magda, who has always kept her head above the rest of the Minus camp, turned in a goodie for XLR8R recently, while Eric Cloutier showed off his skills during half of John Osborne's TAANSTAFL radio show, as well as contributing a podcast to Evad's Mixture blog. There are a lot of mixes from the blog owner there too, which is nice . . .Rounding off this paragraph in a very comprehensive way is Aesthetic Audio's head honcho Keith Worthy and his recent barnstorming selection for Mnml Ssgs.

I've been listening to a lot of Rinse FM podcasts recently, but mainly those from Alex Nut and Ben UFO, but haven't been able to download any from the last week or so, they seem to be suffering from post-carnival ennui. Ben UFO has a Rinse cd out next month, which you probably already know about, and Scuba has a DJ Kicks cd out soon too, which you maybe didn't.

Glorious Gibberish

Writing this piece immediately puts me in mind of those Bing adverts that were on British TV not so long ago. In case you're not aware of them, they start off with someone asking someone else an innocent enough question which exponentially mutates until the person asking for information has far too much to deal with and not necessarily the answer they wanted when they began. This is an obvious criticism of Google and its (over) efficiency. Acknowledging its own inferiority, albeit in a roundabout way, is the only weapon Bing has. It'll never be as good as Google, but is its admission of defeat one which is borne of rigour or a lack thereof?

I suppose the reason I began writing this post is because of a feeling that's crept up on me recently regarding the intellectual regard that some artists are held in over others. Subjectivity is at stake here as I feel it is under attack from those who use it as an arbitrary weapon when it best suits them. I'm not taking aim at anyone particularly here rather, like nearly everything on this blog, a nebulous feeling that I'm becoming more aware of recently. Hype and bullshit will always be around, there will always be stuff in vogue. I just find it difficult to comprehend why certain parties always feel threatened by this.

At the risk of repeating myself, we're currently standing at a very large crossroads regarding edm. Never before, except at the birth of house and techno, as well as whatever passed for "rave" at the arse end of the 1980s, have styles intersected and cross-pollinated in quite the way they are doing right now. The commercial and the contrived haven't had such a good chance for ages for passing themselves off as something credible. The entrepreneurial end of things has also generated a stand-off of sorts with a reasonable body of DJs, who were once artists but have now started sucking Satan's cock (some of them anyway), generating a lot of antipathy between themselves and what they stand for, and the critical voice.

What they stand for is partying, hedonism and self-consciousness. But it's only accessible to a relative few. They've got their drugs and they're not worried about you. They survive on inflated door and bar prices which keep things sweet for themselves and their mates while those who can't afford to follow them around the globe don't notice the elitism too much, unless they're mingers or not wearing a wide-necked t-shirt or a pair of oversized sunglasses. You can argue that it's always been like this; what's changed though is the level of commerciality that prevails. The underground is being promoted as a healthy alternative as never before, so it's timely that I've just come across Legowelt's 'The Teac Life' album, which is being promoted as a free download. Check out the press release:

Hello

Welcome to "THE TEAC LIFE", This album is free to download and distribute.

Its got a hella lot deep tape saturated forest-techno tracks on it and when I say Techno i dont mean that boooooooooooring
contemporary shit they call techno nowadays with overrated tallentless pretentious douchebag cunt DJs playing a few
halfassed dumb mongo beats and being all arty fartsy about it.

I am talking about: Raw as fuck autistic Star Trek 1987- Misty Forests- X-FILES,- DETROIT unicorn futurism made on cheap ass
digital & analog crap synthesizers recorded in a ragtag bedroom studio on a TEAC VHX cassettedeck in DOLBY C with an
unintelligible yet soulfull vivacity.

if you like it you can donate some $ or Euros, Any donation small or large is appreciated u can paypal to:
wolfers@xs4all.nl so I can buy more crap synthesizers to make stuff like this and repair my Roland Juno 106 which stopped
working during the recording of this album...probably cause this shit is tooo deep and it just can't handle it.


Tracklisting:
1 - The Nightwind
2 - Half Moon 106
3 - The Soul of a City
4 - Forest Conditioner
5 - Metro Airport
6 - Moonmist
7 - Beyond ur Self
8 - Wherever we go
9 - Mystery Cruising
10 - Can U feel the other side of ur soul
11 - Dolphin Day 1992
12 - Dare to Dream
13 - Encounter at Farpoint
14 - U can fly away from the hood

Regards and god bless,

Legowelt

(C)2011 all rights reserved by Legowelt

http://www.legowelt.com
enquiries: legowelt-info@xs4all.nl
bookings: nick@octopus-agents.com

God knows who he's got an axe to grind with . . .but I don't have anyone specifically in my sights, rather the prevalent attitude of today's mainstream which, more than ever before, is hell-bent on assimilation for the sole reason of endless product placement and diluted Grandpa In My Pocket sunny side up idyllic living by the seaside bullshit. The very reason why the riots started earlier this month. Anyway, I digress. From tomorrow I will be publishing random lists of those who are "doing it for me" at the moment. This twaddle will be continued asap, but not now as I'm about to eat a boeuf bourguignon . . .at the end of August . . . a meal which is best enjoyed with the wind howling and the snow falling.

Random Film Clips Of DJs Playing: 4

August Chart

Adrenalin - Scuba (Hotflush)



Eternal Radiation EP - V/A (Atmospheric Existence)



The TEAC Life - Legowelt Free album from Legowelt's website. Download here.



Kissing Booth Criminal EP - Alicia Hush (Siteholder)



Monad Xl - Aoki Takamasa (Stroboscopic Artefacts)



One More EP - Pezzner (RebelLION)



Playdo - Matthew Burton & Nick Lawson (Leftroom)



In Dust - Roll The Dice (The Leaf Label)



Satin Panthers - Hudson Mohawke (Warp)



A Million Horses - Agnes Presents Cavalier (Drumpoet Community)

Welcome to a very hastily assembled August chart. I've been away for almost the whole month and have been culturally isolated for the whole time, my sole connections with anything resembling sanity being occasioanl forays into the world of gastronomy. I haven't had time to listen to much since I've been back, but have tried, and of course I had some of these releases before I went. Expect a more thorough chart next month.

Matthew Styles Interview

Here's an interview I did with a man who knows his house. Matt Styles . A recent mix that I uploaded from Matt can be found here.

A Mixed Bag

So, back form my hiatus. Great holiday so normality is taking a little longer to settle in. In the meantime, some reviews of mine were published by Ibiza Voice. Here's a link to Pezzner's
'One More' EP on Crosstown Rebels offshoot RebelLION, Death On The Balcony's 'We Need Passion' EP on Airdrop and Silicone Soul's 'Alive From The Opium Den' on Darkroom Dubs.

Les Vacances

Start tomorrow. Last communication for a few weeks. No computers where I'm going. See you on the other side, in about three weeks.